Golden Point - Maryborough

[A-team]

Was out with the wife again today at Golden Point, Sth of Maryborough. A beautiful place with plenty of reefs to look at. Our third time there so still investigating areas, the wife seems to find the odd sub sub grammer, me not so much.

Today we had an unfortunate incident where a group of three dirt bikers (3 x 4 stroke with Rec reg, 1 illegal with female pillion passenger) - they were casing our car, checking it out with numerous drive by's getting closer and closer till one spotted the wife prospecting. He then called to his mates and they took off.

They took off, only to return and ride through thick bush to stop about 30 meters away. One young guy (maybe in his 20's) walked straight up behind the wife and quite blatantly ask if she'd found anything. Then he came over to me, no niceties, politeness, of greeting and just started randomly talking and asking questions such as "have you found any gold" and "do you have any gold"?? "You must need expensive detectors to find gold?"

Then proceeded to pretend to be interested in prospecting before returning to his group. They then continued to ride closer and closer to us till one rode right past me while detecting, no more the 15 feet away - a test of sorts maybe? He had an entire forest to ride in, and I wasn't happy with their suspicious activity so took of after them with pick in hand.

The one with a pillion that rode past me got jammed in a old timers dig hole, and that's where I caught up with him. I asked why he was riding so close to us, to which he said - I was 20 feet away, and I've got a license to ride in the forest. He then continued to inform me I was committing an illegal act by prospecting - I came back with "I have a license to prospect in this forest".

He wasn't being reasonable so I asked him to get off his bike so we could "sort this out". The girl on the back yelled at him "no" - go go go. And he said "hold on" and gave his very loud motorbike some juice and popped out of that hole joining his friends and never to be seen again (though we could still hear them in the distance).

I didn't get his registration number but now wish I did. Anyway - just a warning to be aware of your surrounds while out detecting - most people do the right thing, some don't.

 

[7.62marksman]

You done well mate
Thats why my veh is always within my sight at all times
Trust no one when they start checking out your gear
A pick is good but i carry something else but thats my choice lol
You all stay safe

 

[Rockhunter62]

You done well mate
Thats why my veh is always within my sight at all times
Trust no one when they start checking out your gear
A pick is good but i carry something else but thats my choice lol
You all stay safe

Are you for real marksman?

Cheers

Doug

 

[7.62marksman]

Yes its called a sat phone and dash cam on movement setting
Forgot to add also trail cameras if in place for more then one day
Why what did you think
Lol you are so funny sometimes mate

 

[7.62marksman]

The comment i made is whats called as a conversation starter
it seems that some on here don't know how to join a conversation UNLESS they are running someone down
Mate i am glad you both got out of that situation safely
Sorry someone tried to turn your post to **** but where i am involved in anything on here then its part of their agenda to rubbish me regardless of who's post it is
Children trying to be adults
Be safe and enjoy the bush

 

[vandemon]

Are there many, any instances of prospectors being harassed by bogans, freaks zombies etc while in the bush, I'm not sure how i would react if accosted by a weirdo, I don't think 'I'll call the cops' would cut it in some situations being that some people have reactionary personalities and will be non negotiable. :bomb:

 

[Swinging & digging]

Amazing how when your gold prospecting you get approached by strangers who ask how much gold your finding?
A few years back I found two small sub grammars on virgin ground just before home time.

Returned two weeks later, car parked down in the gully, gold found on top of the hill, 20 minutes into detecting I hear a car stop near my car.
Within minutes the occupants Father and teenage daughter have tracked me down 600 metres up the hill, I get quizzed on the gold I am finding?
They tell me they started prospecting two weeks earlier, to this day I am not sure how they ended up in my location, been one of the lesser known
places for detectable gold in Victoria.

Off course I told them nothing of the gold I had found on my previous trip.
I feel some newbies think experienced prospectors have gold bearing locations to give away to complete strangers.
Almost like a person behind you at the ATM for asking for 80% of your account balance. RUDE.

 

[Gem in I]

I find it common for a newbie or the curious people to ask questions like all of the above i think them sort of questions are reasonable usually.
If they asked me about the weather or a dating site then i think the pick would get a firmer grasp.

I think spotting a vacant vehicle in the bush would trigger some imaginations, stolen/dumped and foul play scenarios. Still no doubt it would trigger some to have an opportunity imagination.

 

[fwdoz]

A couple of months back a bit further South of Golden Point, I also had 3 dudes on trail bikes scoping out our car, riding past regularly & looking until they saw me.

They darted off but continued watching from 200m away. They never approached to talk but my body language was enough to tell them to rack off.

Always keep your vehicle in sight!

 

[A-team]

Thanks 7.62marksman, seems to be a bit of that go on in this forum. Prefer people contribute to conversation rather than go sideways on a topic. Not a direct dig at anyone by the way.

I doubt a pick or camera would've helped much if these idiots decided to return with something more serious. But a man has to stand his ground literally, at some time. Not to mention freaking out the wife. She had earbuds in and got quite a fright being approached from behind.

Got to say, I'm a little old school and will use all of my 6ft 100kg to protect any of my family if needed. It seemed like these bikers were cruising the forest looking for a target, and became more and more obvious. I decided to change their mind about us before anything happened.

Please, if you see someone driving past multiple times, on a bike or car, consider all possibilities. Some may be completely innocent, but I wasn't about to let this become a story on the 6 o'clock News.

My only wish is that I remembered the rec reg number plate and reported them. I hope this helps prospectors be safe in the forest and not fall victim to foul play of any type.

Oh, and the pick was to take out the bike tyre if needed - I'd let my other skills take care of the rest. Who asks if you "have" any got, let alone found any. Who fishes for how expensive a detector is? And he kept asking how long we'd been there.........um, bye bye bad man.

 

[A-team]

A couple of months back a bit further South of Golden Point, I also had 3 dudes on trail bikes scoping out our car, riding past regularly & looking until they saw me.

They darted off but continued watching from 200m away. They never approached to talk but my body language was enough to tell them to rack off.

Always keep your vehicle in sight!

Sounds very similar??? They had no base camp in site, not completely unusual. Their actions of slowing and circling our area even after seeing us would suggest they were not out for some bush bash fun.

Riding closer and closer to us in an area more conducive to prospecting than dirt biking had zero innocent purpose. Glad you didn't have a run-in with them.

We do often come across motor bikes out to enjoy the bush, and have had others occasionally ask, "any luck" then continue on. This was none of them......

 

[Gem in I]

In that case it seems a shame w.a. is the only place in australia that a person can legally have pepper spray.
Some good sauce recipes on the net however that are good for any b.b.q although i think it is for defusing violence rather than a because i was frightened or angry moment. Edit (for those without skills anyway).

Glad it didn't resolve into anything worse well done A Team.

 

[SWright]

Don't know where you blokes were prospecting but up in NE Vic we will always stop and say G'day to any prospector and chew the fat. Never had any bad reaction and offers of a cuppa almost always.

 

[A-team]

Don't know where you blokes were prospecting but up in NE Vic we will always stop and say G'day to any prospector and chew the fat. Never had any bad reaction and offers of a cuppa almost always.

Unfortunately, there are unsavory characters around and if you are any good at judging character - you'd know the well intention persons to the out right shady characters. Being further out in the country doesn't protect you, but lessens the likelihood of running into them.

I "suspect" these were some local guys looking for some easy cash from what they probably saw as a tourist in their forest. They seemed to know their way around. They were definitely not the chin-wag type, more of the ice-head variety, especially the one that approached me - talking gibberish all nervous like...

I guess the point is - it was blindly obvious these guys were up to no good. What "no-good" we will never no as it was averted by my actions, enough to make them decide we were not an "easy" target. If they were not up to no-good, the situation would never of continued the way it did.

Escalating a situation can (and did) cause it to be diffused by confronting an offender before the offense can take place - a bit of law enforcement psychology tools that can work when applied in the correct situation.

I "use to" be quite good at quickly figuring out a person and spent some time with the Denver Police on patrol many years ago observing. For those looking for an understanding of what I mean, read here; https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/an-fbi-agents-9-ways-to-read-people.html

The main take-away point;

"You don't need to be a top-notch interrogator to figure out what is going on in someone's head. The signals are always there--all you need to do is know what to look for."

It was pretty obvious with these guys....

Now I'm fat, old and on disability - but the monster always lurks beneath. ]

 

[fwdoz]

A couple of months back a bit further South of Golden Point, I also had 3 dudes on trail bikes scoping out our car, riding past regularly & looking until they saw me.

They darted off but continued watching from 200m away. They never approached to talk but my body language was enough to tell them to rack off.

Always keep your vehicle in sight!

Sounds very similar??? They had no base camp in site, not completely unusual. Their actions of slowing and circling our area even after seeing us would suggest they were not out for some bush bash fun.

Riding closer and closer to us in an area more conducive to prospecting than dirt biking had zero innocent purpose. Glad you didn't have a run-in with them.

We do often come across motor bikes out to enjoy the bush, and have had others occasionally ask, "any luck" then continue on. This was none of them......

What I noticed as I viewed from my partially hidden detecting spots among the sticks was that 2 of them stayed in one spot further away while one rode very close to the car, slowing noticeably & looking inside. Then he saw me & took off.

He came back twice more at decent intervals, but these times he looked for me first before going slowly past the car, again looking in.

Definitely out for free souvenirs as far as I am concerned. My look the last time was enough for him to scamper & not return

 

[Teemore]

Don't know where you blokes were prospecting but up in NE Vic we will always stop and say G'day to any prospector and chew the fat. Never had any bad reaction and offers of a cuppa almost always.

Totally agree, have met some great people both from local and interstate areas, swapped locations and always truthfully divulge what I've found just as they do .... hey we're in the same area already a bit of show and tell never hurts and if interstaters it's not as though they're going to be there every weekend.

Oh, I also slow down and have a close look at most parked cars as I drive by, more to try to spot the people detecting to say Hi rather than to rob anyone .....

Illegal off road dirt bike riders are nearly always a pain, just because they can be, it's in their system and to be honest what fun is there riding legally on existing tracks when you can hoon around through the bush .... think most seemingly "agressive" behaviour is just for show.